Source: Zanu PF mob disrupts MDC Alliance presser – NewsDay Zimbabwe
BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA
ROWDY Zanu PF members yesterday gathered at MDC Alliance vice-president Tendai Biti’s offices and disrupted the opposition party’s Press conference on its roadmap to ending Zimbabwe’s international isolation.The youth, led by party activist Alex Gakanje, haggled with the police, refusing to vacate the private premises until the law enforcement officers threatened to arrest them.
MDC Alliance condemned violence against its members following two assassination attempts on its leader Nelson Chamisa by suspected ruling party supporters and State security agents while on his rural voter mobilisation tours in Masvingo and Mutare last week.
Addressing the Press conference, MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said despite the attacks in Masvingo and Mutare, Chamisa was determined to conduct rural outreach programmes in other provinces throughout the country.
“The key message that we get from the citizens that we engage is that Zimbabwe’s crisis continues to deepen. The crisis is characterised by poverty, injustice and chronic corruption,” Mahere said.
“We continue to see the political implosion which calls for deep systematic political reforms. We continue to call for electoral, political and economic reforms so that Zimbabwe can return to legitimacy and democracy.”
MDC Alliance co-vice-president Welshman Ncube said there was need for respect of human rights to guarantee good international relations.
“We are aware that Zimbabwe has lurched from crisis to crisis, a political crisis for a very long period of time — a crisis of legitimacy,” he said.
“Over several decades now, we have had disputed elections after disputed elections, which arise because of the huge deficit in governance manifested mostly during elections. There are issues to do with the capture of the law, which have reached unprecedented levels which we never reached during (the late former President Robert) Mugabe’s rule.
“The violence which is taking place continuously and violation of basic rights established shows that all that is wrong with Zimbabwe.”
COMMENTS
What we are witnessing is in a way very interesting. We have a ruling party which has no differences with its POLAD members who are said to be leaders of opposition parties; it has no problems with what they consider to be the main opposition party led by Mwonzora but they have issues with a party which they consider to be insignificant that is MDC Aliiance.
Meetings and pressers by any other opposition political parties including the ‘main opposition’ party led by Mwonzora are never disrupted and in fact supported and protected by the ruling party and security agents. However, there is a different scenario when MDC Alliance wants to do its legitimate business as a political party, why?
Is the ruling party telling all and sundry that all members of POLAD and MDC-T are an extension of their party and only MDC Alliance is the opposition party or is it that MDC Alliance is now considered as a ‘government in waiting’ and all other political parties in Zimbabwe including the ruling party, are now considered as opposition parties to the MDC Alliance?